To think they should have apologised for wrongly accusing me of shoplifting?

[Tyzbiscuit]

I was in a well known supermarket today with DP picking up a few things for dinner. I scanned my shopping at the self checkout, paid and printed the receipt (all while being watched by a member of staff standing right behind me.)

There wasn’t much room and we had 2 bags so DP packed one on the paid for side and I packed another nearer the scanner. As I put one of the items in the bag, it must have scanned on the scanner again without me noticing.

As we were walking away, the member of staff started shouting ‘excuse me!’. I stopped and turned to see him staring at me accusingly and pointing at the self service screen. I asked what he meant and he said I had to pay for the item and shouted the price loudly across to me. Everyone was staring at this point, it was embarrassing. I explained I’d paid and didn’t owe anything and showed my receipt with the item on it. He still just stood there until his supervisor (I assume) came over and told him it was fine and that ‘this happens sometimes’. There was no apology from either of them. As I turned around I heard the supervisor telling the staff member ‘well done for checking’ and it honestly gave me the rage. Why is it ‘well done’ to wrongly someone of shoplifting and then not apologise?

It’s left me with a horrible feeling and I feel judged as someone who would go around stealing. I think that bar codes should be deactivated once the item has been paid for to avoid this sort of thing happening. I feel like raising this with the supermarket because I am still angry.

I’m with you OP he was wrong as was the supervisor, both should have apologised. There is absolutely no need to try to show your customers up because that’s the fastest way to loose them and to get them to give you a bad review to their friends.
You can bet the attitude you were treated to isn’t taken with physically large men or intimidating groups either.

Years ago, my mum was accused of shoplifting in a department store. She had taken an old lipstick with her and was comparing it to new ones and then put it back into her bag. She was stopped by a store detective and marched through the store to the back offices, which was hugely embarrassing. Obviously, the store realised their mistake when she showed the lipstick in her bag was her own. Being the most law-abiding citizen I know, she was quite traumatised by this and when she got home my dad rang the store and complained so I completely understand the horrible feeling it left you with. Later that day the store sent someone to our house with a goody bag containing loads of cosmetics and skincare products and an apology. I think the least the store could have done for you was to apologise.

Your mum’s situation was entirely different. Do you really not see that?

💯👏🏼

..and this, ladies, is why I would rather queue for half an hour than use those piggin bloody self service robot monster check outs. I have had many a confrontation with determined staff who try to insist that I use them instead of creating a long queue at the only open checkout. I hate them so much. I would rather force my head into a freshly disturbed wasps nest than use those abhorrent things.

Yes, but my wrong thing didn’t make someone feel bad or cause any embarrassment. It could easily be fixed. He could have just said ‘the machine is still showing an unpaid item, do you mind if I check the receipt to make sure it’s all gone through correctly?’ rather than demanding payment and acting like I was trying to make off with their goods. There is a way to treat people and this isn’t it.

I worked in retail in the past. I have empathy for supermarket workers, I know it can be a hard job. But it doesn’t excuse poor behaviour.

😂

My husband is a bit like this. He avoids automated machines with a passion.

Im sure in the future we’ll have eradicated the need for a poor human to have to oversee all the robot tills in a supermarket-

the computer was showing op needed to pay for an item so the cashier was repeating what was on the screen- albeit in a rather panicked way. Maybe 3 tills had said the same thing at once? Pretty difficult to keep your cool when computers are flashing error al around you.

Weeks of agony after putting your head in a wasps nest vs the embarrassment of being called out for not paying for an item? No contest for me 😬

He was doing his job.

Or the supermarkets could actually employ people to serve their customers, thus avoiding this kind of problem entirely.

The problem in the OP's case has been caused by people, not machines. The customer not using the machine correctly (accidentally scanning) and the shop employee by being rude. The machine isn't the problem, people are the problem.

Years ago I got accused of passing a fake £10 note. By shop staff, years before self-service tills were a thing. Literally called the supervisor in front of a queue full of people and told them it was clearly a fake. Of course it wasn't, it was just a new note, I'd got three tenners out of the bank machine a few minutes earlier. No apology of them for wasting my time or calling me a criminal.

People are the problem, not machines.

Op, you put yourself in the position of accidentally scanning the products again when you packed your bag near the scanner. This in itself would've drawn attention probably, because it could've looked as if the items you were packing hadn't been paid for, as you said yourself you didn't pack your goods on the paid for side.

The staff member didnt accuse you if theft either. A massive over reaction from you I think.

You are very mistaken if you believe that's how most shoplifters operate. Most shoplifting occurs on the self checkouts, I've got experience of this.

I'd say about 3 out of every ten people 'accidentally on purpose' forget to scan their expensive items and walk out, with no qualms about doing it.

So were you the only people in the self service checkout area? If you were then he should have known you weren't stealing (although I doubt he was staring at you the whole time).
If there were other people then he'd be trying to watch everyone, even if he was stood close to you.
You and your DP are making a massive drama out of a non event. And why shouldn't the supervisor praise the colleague for doing this right thing? Retail is fucking horrible and neither customers or staff are perfect.

But he didn't accuse the OP of theft!

And 'publicly shamed' ? .... Seriously? 🙄

@Sugarplumsandpears He was accusing in his manner. He was implying that I was trying to steal the item, especially as he was pointing at the machine and shouting out the price he said I had to pay. If you’d been nearby and seen that and didn’t know the situation, you’d have thought I was trying to steal it and he was telling me I should have paid.

I don’t know why some people on here are so adamant that he wasn’t accusing me of anything when it’s so obvious he was.

I wouldn't have thought anything. People have more going on in their lives than worrying about what a random stranger and retail worker are doing.

Ok, let's say he was accusatory by his actions (although I don't think most people would've taken it that way just because he called you back and said there was an unpaid for item on the screen that needed to be paid for, as you could've just answered with the fact that you must've accidentally re scanned something when putting it away, problem solved), you've said that you were putting the items in your bag in a different part to where your DP was packing his bag in the paid for area.

You also said that the staff member watched you scan everything as he was right next to you, but your OP says he was right behind you, so you can't know whether or not he was watching you the whole time. He could've been watching someone else or looking out the window, whatever.
He may only have seen you pack an item or two into your bag on the wrong side of the scanner, and when you walked off he called you back thinking you were not paying for everything. In other words, you probably looked suspicious anyway by packing your bag on the wrong side

Whatever the staff member thought, meaning whether or not he thought you may be stealing, he still didn't accuse you of theft.

You haven’t seen shoplifters, you’ve seen brazen grab and gos.